Bitch problems are a popular topic among breeders, but the truth is, most bitches have no problems. Bitches do everything to maintain their body and if there is excess, they reproduce. The number one issue that costs us money is bitches that are not cycling. If we have a number of females are not cycling, the first thing to look at is their diet and vitamins. Poor quality protein and imbalanced vitamins can be the cause, and you can correct cycling if they have the right diet, vitamins and minerals.

In the wild dog pack, one or two alpha bitches will cycle, while the rest do not. There may be 4 or more females, but their ovaries will stay in anestrous (quiet ovary) and out of heat. This is good - the best genetics will breed while the rest contribute to feeding. Skipping heats can send normal adult bitches into anestrous as well.

It's hard on bitches to rest them and intermittently breed them. Typically the first litter after the "rest" is difficult for the bitch and there will also be fewer weaned puppies. However, if we do a good job feeding and whelping females, they can cycle again with no issues at their normal 6-month interval.

We also see this phenomenon in the kennel with the young female. We'll skip heats to get the dog physically and mentally ready to raise a litter, but then they stop cycling. Small breeds and especially poodles are notorious for doing this. This dog is easily started again!

What to do if I have females not cycling?

First, make sure everything is normal with your system, especially with their diet. Ask your veterinarian for help if there is any debate.

Put the females on a vitamin mineral supplement daily. More vitamin and mineral issues have been diagnosed in the last few years - there are many reasons, but the important thing is: they are easy to correct. While bringing them in we want optimum levels in the female. I like Doc Roy's® Daily Care as it is easy to use, it's made in the USA, and it's economical.

In pigs, PG 600 is the hormone used to start cycling in gilts. It knocks the scar tissue off the ovary, allowing the ovary to start cycling. Dogs also respond well to PG 600 - use at 1cc/20 pounds. For the best results, give the first two doses 5 days apart, then weekly until in heat. Many breeders will say Monday and Friday and then every Friday. Most are in heat by the third week, but if there is any question you can give one more injection, with a maximum of 6 injections.

PG 600 is a great management tool and I commonly use it in young females who are old enough to breed but are not coming in or have an irregular heat cycle. We are 80% successful at getting these maiden females to cycle again. If there is one tool you can use to manage your females more effectively, it's PG 600 to keep your bitches cycling regularly, for healthier moms and pups every time.

Before you use it, have your bitch tested to make sure she is not in anestrus(having just come out of heat). If you use it on her while she is in anestrus, it could cause her to become barren.

Use it with care.

A lot of times, a bitch that skips heats may just lack certain vitamins. I have had bitches that were late, come in after giving a simple multi-vitamin.

PG600 has been used many times to bring bitches into season. Made for swine, but used on canines with success. It is given by injection IM and the bitch should come in within a week. The injection burns like nothing else. Have your bitch muzzled and someone to hold her while another gives the injection. The injection site will be very sore for the following few days, but other than that it is safe.

NEVER give any heat inducing product to a female dog that has not had a natural heat first. A 14 month old dog who has not had a heat yet, is not that unusual. A five year old is. Even MORE s. I had a 4 year old that had her first heat cycle, then had one every nine moths. Otherwise she was a healthy, happy good looking dog. She lived to be 16 years old. Giving hormones to induce a heat cycle in a young undeveloped female dog female will cause developmental problems with her ovaries and other reproductive parts. A young female dog who was IS NOT fully developed, by giving an inducing hormone, she will not come into heat regularly, and will not develop any more, because her body is tricked into thinking it is fully formed and most likely never developed eggs. The potential risk of no eggs, irregular heat cycles makes not worth using in the first place. Some may get lucky but most will ruin a young female dog by giving them hormones. In canines the different hormone therapies are used on mature dog , at least Four or Five years old, who have had some natural cycles and are definitely fully developed. Then you have several choices of different hormones to try, not medicines. Be sure at this time to have a veterinarian administer the hormones, especially being you are just learning about these products. Then it is usually given to those who come in every 18 - 24 months, one time as a last shot. Maybe change your dog food, at something with high fat content on top of the food. Bacon grease, canola oil , safflower oil , etc. . STRESS CAN INDUCE A HEAT CYCLE , I am sure many can tell you of taking their female on a long trip for a trial or a show and soon as they get back, the stress had induced a heat cycle. Also, if she is a house pet or something and never around male dogs, exposure to male dogs and the pheromones they emit, will often get the right hormones to kick in, in the female dog.

SYGODosts: 48

PG600 is used when there are serious concerns about a female's ability to come in. Of course any bitch under 2yrs is too young to be worried about. If someone has a 4yr old bitch that they want to breed, but has never come in, PG600 would definately be an option.

Although this section is based on a whelping of an English Mastiff, it also contains good general whelping information on large-breed dogs. You can find more whelping information in the links above. The links below tell the story of Sassy, an English Mastiff. Sassy has a wonderful temperament. She loves humans and adores children. An all-around mild mannered, wonderful Mastiff, Sassy, however, is not the best mother toward her puppies. She is not rejecting them; she will nurse them when a human places them on her to feed, however she will not clean the pups or pay any attention to them. It is as if they are not her puppies. This litter is getting mom’s milk with major human interaction, manually giving each and every pup what they need. In return, the pups will be super socialized and will make remarkable pets, however the work involved is astounding. It takes one dedicated breeder to keep this situation healthy. Thankfully this litter has just that. Read the links below to get the full story. The pages within include a wealth of information that everyone can appreciate and benefit from.

Best Day to Breed

The bitch will began to bleed. The first 1-8 days not much changes until she goes into standing heat at about day 9. ( breeds vary )

Standing heat means she will be receptive to the males advances. She may lift her tail, dance in front of the males face. A test is to run your hand down her back, if she is in standing heat, she may lift her tail.

A good stud will not attempt matting until the correct time which is when she is ovulating. He senses this by the smell of progesterone that she will give off during ovulation . Breeding will take place on days 10, 12,14. for Smaller breds, Larger breds may ovulate earlier. If you are unsure of her best days to bred her, than take your female to your Vet for a vaginal cytology or contact Camelot Farms, they have a new Ovulation test on the market called Premate.

When the female ovulates, it take 48 hours for her eggs to ripen before they will allow penetration of sperm.

She may release 200 eggs which the male may fertilize. Her body and mother nature will absorb the unhealthy and some healthy fertilized eggs. Leaving fertilized eggs that her body is capable of carring to term. There are occations when mother nature brain drives off the map and she absorbs them all. This is usually about the time you go yelling at the stud owner, saying her dog is no good. It is not always the studs fault that your female did not go on to whelp a litter of pups. There are a number of reasons a Female will fail to concieve.

Age - to young or to old

Health

Irregular heat cycles- it may not be a true heat

Bred on the wrong days - this is why ovulation testing is important. You may of bred to early or to late.

Stud has low sperm count- Always use a proven male, one that has sired other litters.

The female determines how many pups will be in a litter. The male has a penis which is called the Os penis. It has an actual bone. It can break, so he is the one at danger during mating. A males sperm may live a few day and in some cases up to a week. The male determines the sex of the puppies.

before an outside male is bred to my male she needs to be :

Current Brucellosis test (no more than 30 days old)

Current of all vaccinations & copy of shot record provided as proof

Current on Rabies shot

Free of ear mites, ticks and fleas

Free of any open sores, abscesses, demodex or other skin problems. No female with a history of generalized demodex mange or other skin aliments will not be considered for breeding toThe Ice White Knight of Camelot

BEFORE THE APPOINT IS MADE THE BITCH WILL NEED TO BE TAKEN TO HER VET TO HAVE DOCUMENTATION ON THE ABOVE ITEMS AS WELL AS HAVE A

Progesterone test

Semiquantitative test progesterone

This is one of the best methods to determine the fertile days of the bitch. It is much more accurate than the vaginal cytology since many times there is no coincidence between the supposed ovulation time obtained by both different methods.

The test is done on serum or plasma, and the determination must be serial. It can be done with a quantitative test (we obtain an exact progesterone level) or a semiquantitative test were the progesterone value is determined within intervals. It is recommended to start with the progesterone tests on the days 5 or 6 after the first vaginal discharges of the bitch.

Different reports show that the bitch ovulates 48-72 hours after the increase in LH. The ovules cannot be fertilized until 48-60 hours after the ovulation and stay fertile for 48-72 hours. This is why it is important to do the progesterone determination when chilled or frozen semen is used.

B.S., University of Minnesota, 1975D.V.M., University of Minnesota, 1977M.S., University of Minnesota, 1982

Diplomate, American College of Theriogenologists

ALL INFORMATION IN THIS SECTION ON MY WEBSITE CAN BE CREDITED TO

Eilts, Bruce E. ,

IN MY OPINION THE BEST INSTRUCTOR AVAILABLE ON THIS SUBJECT

Canine Breeding Management

Improper timing of breeding is often the cause of unsuccessful breeding.

The conception rate after a single breeding is highest if the bitch is bred 3-10 days prior to Day 1 of diestrus (D1).

After a single breeding, the number of live pups per CL is highest when the breeding occurs 4 days prior to D1 by a proven, fertile male. This would equate to the fifth day of estrus for an average, normal 9 day estrus.

The breeding male should be Brucella cania negative.

The ejaculate should contain at least 200 x 106 total cells

It should have 80 % motility

80% of the the cells should have normal morphology.

Breeding

If natural breeding is performed, be active in the breeding process. Observe the breeding to see if a tie occurred.

Do not just leave the dogs together and hope they breed.

The timing of the breeding is important. If the male and female are both available for unlimited breeding, then breedings can be done every other day the bitch is in estrus.

Timing the cycle for optimal breeding

The estrous cycle should be monitored to establish when the bitch is actually in estrus.

This is important because there are several reasons why breeding may not occur, or the fertile period may be missed.

Some reasons include: male - female incompatibility caused by physical problems in either the male or female.

Psychological problems.

Behavioral problems.

If there are constraints on the availability of the male, or the number of breedings possible, it is important that the cycle be monitored carefully to ensure the optimal time to breed.

The initial progesterone rise during estrus in the bitch coincides with the LH peak.

Before the LH peak the progesterone is < 1.0 ng/ml.

On the day of the LH peak, progesterone rises to around 1.5 - 2.0 ng/ml. Thereafter the progesterone is > 5 ng/ml.

Using our lab ovulation occurs at about 3.8-5.0 ng/ml (11.7 nmol/L) of progesterone (including the day of ovulation and the 24 hours it takes to ovulate) and the best days to breed occur at about 17.6-24.1 ng/ml (54-74 nmol/L) of progesterone.

The progesterone can be assayed quantitatively by a laboratory or qualitatively using an ELISA kit.

The ELISA kits are quick and semi-quantitative.

Use the ELISA kits as an adjunct to vaginal cytology.

Begin when vaginal cornification reaches 60 - 75%.

If used alone, begin third or fourth day of proestrus. Test every other day.

The 'Status-Pro' will indicate the day of if initial progesterone rise by the number of blue dots fading.

The day the test goes from 3 blue dots to 2 blue dots is the day the progesterone went from < 1 ng/ml to 2-7 ng/ml, which coincides with the LH peak.

'Ovucheck Premate' has you read wells and compare the sample to a set of controls for color intensity.

It has ranges of < 3, 3-10 and > 10.

These ranges do not fit well with breeding protocols we use.

Handy to determine early vs late estrus.

It is important to do follow-up testing to ensure that progesterone continues to rise, as sometimes the dogs become 'stuck' at 2-7 ng/ml. This may indicate an anovulatory cycle.

It is also important to continue to follow the vaginal cytology.

Counting back 6 days from the first day of cytologic diestrus should coincide with ovulation. (This would be 8 days from the LH peak).

If these two tests do not predict ovulation on a similar day, then fertility may be compromised.

If you skipped a day between tests and the test today is high and the test 2 days ago was low, then the day in between was the day of initial progesterone rise.

Ovu

USING PROGESTERONE KITS TO TIME INSEMINATION IN THE BITCH

Dale Paccamonti, D.V.M., M.S., Dip. A.C.T.

When the number of breedings is reduced to one or two during a single estrus, such as with frozen or fresh cooled semen, timing insemination to coincide with ovulation becomes critical. Ovulation occurs approximately two days after the LH surge. The bitch ovulates primary oocytes which require two to three more days for maturation. Mature oocytes are then viable for another two to three days. Therefore, the fertile period is four to eight days after the LH surge with peak fertility occurring five to six days after the LH surge.

Vaginal cytology does not give a very precise prediction of ovulation. The LH peak may occur anywhere from the same day, or up to two days after, full cornification. Unlike most species, progesterone rises before ovulation in the bitch. Therefore, progesterone is useful to predict the LH surge as an increase in serum progesterone is closely associated with the LH peak. Before the LH surge, progesterone is < 1 ng/ml. On the day of the LH surge, progesterone rises to 1.5 to 2.0 ng/ml and thereafter continues to rise during diestrus or pregnancy. By identifying this initial rise in progesterone, the day of the LH surge can be estimated and insemination performed during the period of peak fertility .

At least two kits are available for in-house, semi-quantitative progesterone testing. Both are CITE kits and are interpreted on the basis of color changes. The Target Kit (Biometallics, Inc., Princeton, NJ; 800-999-1961) differentiates between different concentrations of progesterone on the basis of the color intensity of a single dot. A bright blue dot corresponds to a progesterone concentration of 0.0 to 1.0 ng/ml, light blue: 1.0 to 2.5 ng/ml, very pale blue: 2.5 to 5.0 ng/ml, and white: greater than 5.0 ng/ml. The Target kit includes an internal calibration which eliminates the need to run a control or to have multiple spots in the test. The Status Pro (International Canine Genetics, Malvern, PA, 19355; 800-248-8099) uses three dots to differentiate between 0.0 to 1.5 ng/ml (3 dots), 2.0 to 7.0 ng/ml (2 dots) and greater than 7.5 ng/ml (1 dot) serum progesterone. The dot which is visible at high progesterone concentrations serves as a control.

Progesterone testing can be used as an adjunct to vaginal cytology or can be used alone if a practitioner is not comfortable interpreting vaginal cytology. If progesterone testing is to be used in conjunction with vaginal cytology, testing should begin when vaginal cytology is approximately 60-75% cornified to establish a baseline with which to compare subsequent test results. If using progesterone tests alone, test every other day, beginning early (3rd or 4th day) in proestrus.

Using the Status Pro kit, the low spot will begin to fade on Day 0 (the day of the LH peak) and will disappear on Day 1 post LH peak. The serum progesterone on Day 1 may occasionally vary and the dot may not completely disappear. In these cases, though, rising progesterone can be detected by fading of the low progesterone dot. Using the Target kit, fading of the dot or the presence of a light blue dot corresponds to the initial rise in progesterone, or day 0, the day of the LH peak.

Both tests come with concise, step-by-step instructions. The tests are easy to perform and results are available in about 20 minutes. Some aspects of the tests require attention to detail to achieve meaningful results. The kits need to come to room temperature before use. If the test is run using a cold kit, results will be incorrect, often giving a false high progesterone. The manufacturers recommend the kits be placed at room temperature for approximately two hours before use. Blood should be collected into a plain (red top) tube without anticoagulant for the Status Pro. For the Target kit, blood should be collected in either a plain (red top), EDTA (purple) or heparin (green) coated tube. Blood should be allowed to clot at a cool temperature (in the refrigerator) and cells should be separated from serum or plasma as soon as possible (within 20 minutes of collection is the manufacturer's recommendation). If serum is allowed to remain with the red blood cells, progesterone will be bound by them and test results will be artificially low. With the Target kits, hemolyzed or lipemic samples may be used but additional washes (Step 2) should be performed before adding the enzyme (Step 3). Hemolyzed or lipemic samples will give a false low progesterone if used with the Status-Pro kits. Serum samples may also be frozen for analysis at a later date.

If insemination is to be performed with fresh semen and multiple breedings are possible, insemination may be performed every other day after the initial rise in progesterone is observed. If only two breedings are to be performed, insemination should be performed on either Days 3 and 5 or Days 4 and 6. Likewise, if insemination involves fresh chilled semen, fertility is best if breedings occur on Days 3 and 5 or 4 and 6, keeping in mind that viability of fresh chilled semen is reduced and timing of insemination is more critical. The viability of frozen semen is reduced even further and timing is even more critical. If multiple vaginal inseminations with cryopreserved semen are to be performed, they should be performed on Days 4, 5 and 6. More commonly, a single surgical insemination is conducted when frozen semen is used. Surgical insemination with frozen semen should be performed on Day 5 or 6.

After the day of the LH surge is determined and insemination has been performed, vaginal cytology samples should be collected every other day until Day 1 of diestrus is determined. This provides another means, although retrospective, to determine the day of ovulation. Determining the day of ovulation by two methods and determining if they coincide may help in an infertility workup. Semi-quantitative progesterone kits may also be used three to four weeks after the end of estrus to verify that progesterone is high when luteal insufficiency or ovulation failure are suspected.

Quantitative Progesterone

Some laboratories offer a 24 hour turn around on quantitative serum progesterone.

Texas Diagnostic Lab

Endocrine Diagnostics in Baton Rouge - how long will it be available?

LSU SVM Theriogenolgy

Relative progesterone concentrations during the proestrual/estrual period.P4 (ng/ml)Relative time points1.1-1.9 Before LH surge2.1-2.9 Day of LH surge3.1-3.9 Days 1-2 after the LH surge4.0-8.0 Day of ovulation10-80 2-3 weeks post-ovulation

Dr. Robert Hutchinson also states that the LH surges occurs when the quantitative progesterone is 2-3 ng/ml. However, Dr. Pat Concannon believes that it is the rate of the progesterone rise from the preceding days that indicates the LH surge, not the value or magnitude. For example, it may increase from 0 .4 to 0 .8 ng/ml, 0.7 to 1.2 ng/ml, or 0.8 to 2.0 ng/ml. Other people state that the dog ovulates when quantitative progesterone reaches 5.0 ng/ml. We have not been able to correlate quantitative progesterone that we have run to known ovulation dates, whereas some people rely heavily upon it.

The LH is also a quick qualitative ELISA test. It must be run daily, because the LH has only a one day rise, and if a day of LH testing is missed the LH peak may have been missed. This test is reliable, but since testing must be done daily, it is usually more time consuming and expensive. If a single day is missed, the LH peak may have been missed. Experimentally, this has been very accurate at determining the LH peak for us.

Click to enlarge

Breeding

Artificial Insemination of Fresh Semen

It is always best to use proven male, but always evaluate the semen to determine the number of cells and the quality of the cells inseminated.

Breed every other day during estrus until the first day of cytologic diestrus.

Insert a pipette over the pubis and into the anterior vagina. Be careful to avoid urethra and inseminate the bladder, as pregnancy rates are low with insemination into the bladder.

A cow AI sheath or a cut-off cow infusion pipette works well for most bitches.

Some smaller dogs may require a smaller pipette.

Commercial pipettes are available specifically for dogs.

Generally, an unskilled person working with regular equipment cannot enter the bitch's cervix. The cervix is difficult to enter because it is actually at a 90 degree angle to the animals longitudinal axis.

Infuse the unextended semen.

A regular syringe can be used because the sperm cells are not in contact with the syringe very long.

Some syringes have been implicate as being spermacidal.

It has been traditional to feather the dorsal vagina and to elevate the hindquarters for 10 minutes, but our research has shown neither of these to be necessary.

As always, remember to do your AKC paperwork.

How many cells are needed?

Vaginal AI on 3 consecutive days after acceptance of the male by the female with 50 X 106 cells of fresh semen extended 1:4 resulted in lower fertility (20%) than AI on 3 consecutive days with 200 x 106 cells of fresh semen extended 1:1 (80%) or natural mating (80 %).

The volume fresh semen placed in the anterior vagina has not been critically evaluated.

Volumes as low as 2.2 ml and up to 3.6-3.9 ml have been reported to yield good pregnancy rates.

As long as an adequate number of cells is placed into the vagina, the volume of the inseminate does not affect fertility.

Excessively large semen volumes inseminated into the vagina could result in the drainage of some of the ejaculate from the vagina, however this has not been critically tested.

There is only one controlled study that directly compared pregnancy rates of bitches bred by AI using fresh semen vs. natural mating, and it showed there was no difference in pregnancy rates of bitches mated by AI or natural mating when the same males were used under similar breeding conditions.

Transcervical insemination (see below under Frozen Semen for more information)

Fertility after intrauterine insemination of fresh semen was greater than that obtained by vaginal AI with fresh semen, but the vaginal AI conception rate was only 25% in one report.

Intrauterine insemination with fresh semen appears to have no benefits under most normal situations

One report indicates intrauterine insemination with fresh semen significantly improved the pregnancy rates in bitches that were previously infertile when bred to the males that proved fertile in breeding other bitches.

At LSU (EVSSAR 2005 Budapest)

A total of 11 females during 82 estrous cycles (59 AI and 23 TCI) were evaluated.

Eleven different males were used for 1 to 22 estrous cycles (mean = 7, SD = 6.2). There was no difference among female or male fertility.

The median number of TCIs performed for each female (+ SD) in the TCI group was 2 + 0.99.

The pregnancy rates for bitches in the AI and TCI groups were 38.3% (33/59) and 83.3% (20/23), respectively. The odds ratio of a female becoming pregnant in the TCI group was 10.8 (p = 0.005).

The average number of total breedings (+ SD) in the TCI and AI groups was not different (4.3 + 1.1 and 3.9 + 1.4, respectively).

The average number of total cells inseminated (+ SD) in the TCI and AI groups was not different (1802 + 1085 and 1226 + 1121, respectively).

Click to see a video of artificial insemination in the bitch.

Breeding when only 1 or 2 breedings are available(Limited availability of stud, shipped or frozen semen)

If fresh cooled shipped semen is being sent in, it is important to predict the fertile period.

The "Fertile period" is 4 to 8 days after the LH surge.

This is because the ovulation occurs 2 days after the LH surge and takes around 24 hours

Then the oocyte must undergo reduction division, which takes another 24 hours

....hence at least 4 days past the LH surge.

The oocytes are viable for only a short though after the reduction division, so the peak fertility is 5 to 6 days after the LH peak.

It is recommended to breed on days 3 and 5 or days 4 and 6 after the LH peak.

The insemination procedure is the same as with fresh semen. There is no need to warm the semen before insemination, but a sample should be analyzed to ensure quality.

Results after using chilled extended semen can be the same as natural breeding if the proper number of cells are inseminated enough times.

Swedish reports that summarized data from chilled semen inseminations show pregnancy rates can vary from 28-60% depending upon the type of extender used.

These pregnancy rates are lower when ovulation is timed and the number of breeding is limited than when compared to the 90-100% conception rates when an average of 4 breedings of 250-350 x 106cells/breeding were used by us.

Packaging cooled semen

After semen collection, analyze the sample and extend at least 1:1 in warm extender.

We have found that the skim milk equine extender works as well as most of the commercial or home-made canine extenders.

Package in a cooling system. Again, we have found the equine packaging systems work as well as the more expensive commercial canine packaging systems.

At this time the AKC requires all studs that have semen chilled and shipped to be DNA tested before registration of pups is allowed.

If frozen semen is being used, surgical insemination generally gives the highest fertility.

Since the frozen cells do not live as long, breed on day 5 or 6 after the LH peak.

A ventral midline laparotomy is performed, the uterine horns exposed with minimal trauma, and the thawed semen is injected into either horn.

Thaw the semen only when you are ready to inseminate and use the thawing directions supplied by the freezing company, no matter how you normally do it!

Check the motility of a drop before insemination.

Use only semen from AKC approved centers, or the puppies will not be able to be registered with the AKC.

AKC paperwork is essential.

Vaginal insemination with frozen semen generally has poor conception, because most people cannot penetrate the cervix.

With special training, however, some people have been able to obtain acceptable pregnancy rates if breedings occurred on days 4, 5, and 6 after the LH peak.

A 1996 report in Veterinary Record by Silva, Onclin, Lejune and Verstegen state a 60 % conception rate using vaginal AI of 1 billion cells with 60% motility on days 3 and 5 after the LH peak.

This was the same pregnancy rate using 400 million cells surgically inseminated.

A group of controls using fresh semen had 100 % conception rates.

Norwegian Catheter

The catheter consists of a large plastic sheath and a smaller stainless steel catheter that fits inside the sheath.

There are at least three sizes of catheters made for different size dogs.

To perform the insemination

The sheath, with the internal catheter in place, is passed as far into the vagina as possible.

The tip of the stainless steel catheter is then advanced cranially into the fornix under the cervix.

Since the cervical os opens in a dorso-ventral direction, the catheter cannot be directly advanced through the cervix.

The cervix must be palpated through the abdomen and grasped by the veterinarian.

Once the cervix is grasped and the catheter is in the cervical fornix, the cervix is manipulated by turning in ventrally so the cervical os assumes a more horizontal position.

As the cervix assumes a horizontal orientation, the catheter is backed out of the fornix and threaded through the cervix

When the catheter encounters the cervix, a ‘gritty’ sensation is felt by the veterinarian.

Once the catheter is placed through the cervix, the semen is inseminated.

The purchase of the catheters is a relatively small expense; however attaining the skill to consistently pass the catheter through the cervix requires considerable training, practice and patience.

The possibility of a vaginal or uterine rupture is always present when inexperienced clinicians are attempting this intrauterine insemination procedure.

Conception Rates

Intrauterine deposition of frozen semen yielded pregnancy rates of 67% breeding 1-2 times (the number of cells was not stated),

83% breeding two times using 200 x 106 cells/breeding

84% breeding 1-3 times using 186 x 106 cells/breeding.

Increasing the number of breedings from 1 to 3 did not significantly increase the conception rate using the Norwegian transcervical technique.

The 'Norwegian' Catheter above

A transcervical AI technique has been described by Marion Wilson from New Zealand.

A 36 cm Storz cystoscope with a 300 vewing angle is used.

A 55 cm scope with a 60 viewing angle is also used (smaller diameter) if the vagina is smaller, or more length is needed.

Smaller diameter 55 cm scope on bottom. Note the smaller diameter. The lens is at the end and the catheter channel enclosed just above the lens.

Smaller diameter 55 cm scope on left in each picture. The lens is at the tip and has a 60 viewing angle. The lens at the tip makes viewing slightly more difficult because of the

collapsing of the vaginal wall if the catheter is not used to hold the wall away. A smaller, longer catheter must be used.

The cystoscope is passed into the vagina and the dorsal postcervical fold is identified.

The cervical os appears as a rosette under the dorsal post cervical fold.

An 8 fr catheter is used to inseminate

Pregnancy rates

100% breeding two times using as 200 x 106 cells/breeding

85% using as few as 30-50 x 106 cells/breeding

57% (the number of breedings and dose was not stated)

36 cm cystoscope above. The lens is inset from the end of the sheath and the catheter channel is an open channel in the sheath.

The standard dose for surgical AI is 100-200 million motile cells in one breeding 5-6 days after the LH peak. Most people use 100 million cells and breed 6 days after the LH peak or 3 days after progesterone is 5 ng/ml (15.9 nmoles/ml)

LSU likes to breed with at least 100 million motile cells on days 5 and 6 post LH.

Work from South Africa has shown that fertility can be obtained with as few as 50 million cells deposited vaginally, every day of estrus.

The future of frozen semen probably is in multiple transcervical inseminations of lower doses of semen. This will also change the way we freeze cells (i.e. we will freeze fewer cells in a straw.

At this time all studs that have semen frozen, need to be DNA tested before registration is allowed.

To register a litter with the AKC only semen from AKC approved semen centers can be used. There are a limited number of AKC approved centers, with LSU being one of them.

The AKC only has bookkeeping requirements, they do not endorse any centers or have any quality control regulations.

To become approved you must only show the AKC that you can keep accurate.